Tea pot cosies, greyhounds and cats

all featured in my visit yesterday.

Yes, Middle Cat and I went off to the Show, the annual agricultural and horticultural Show. I had something to do there but Middle Cat tagged along and when I had finished we did a little sightseeing. 

I am not keen on the crowds or the noise but it is most definitely one of the most interesting "people watching" situations to be in. That being the case I did as I needed to do and was free to do as Middle Cat wanted. 

We sat and ate our sandwich with my good friend W... W... is the handicrafts judge for another Show in the state, a smaller rural one. She had come along to look at our display and talk it over with me. It was good to see things through her eyes. After we had been around the display together and she had met our Convenor we had a quick look at the flowers in the adjacent area. I would like to have taken that display of delphiniums home with me...that blue!

Then W... who is in her eighties decided she was ready to leave and went off to catch a bus. I found Middle Cat talking to her friend F... F... takes time away from his regular job each year and tries to sell CD's of pan pipe music at the Show. He wasn't doing very well this year. The organisers had changed his location and (naturally) the price had gone up. He greeted me in Spanish and I replied in same. His English not good. I waited while they chatted and just watched the passing parade of people. 

All sorts of people go to the Show and I wonder what sort of home life some of them have. What sort of household does that enormously fat and tattooed woman come from? She is wearing cut off shorts and a t-shirt that reveals more than it hides. What about the other one, almost as big? She is also wearing shorts, fishnet stockings and a blouse tied so that I can see her "belly button". I try not to stare. I also wonder at the young boy, perhaps twelve or thirteen who is so very, very thin. Under his t-shirts (he is wearing two) there is the unmistakable outline of a back brace. He needs help to stand up but, as they walk away from where they were sitting, he turns to the adult with him. His face is alight with enthusiasm for something. 

Middle Cat wants to see some cats which were judged today. We find our way to the far end of the grounds. It is quieter there. The cats are mostly asleep. One is being given a bit of grooming. Middle Cat being Middle Cat is soon deep in conversation with the owner. I talk to the cat, a female Russian Blue. She is a "rescue" cat. People come along and look at her and talk baby talk to her. I talk to her in a more adult manner and, on a nod from her owner, I let her sniff my hand. She gives me a gentle butt and we are "friends". She ignores her other admirers and "talks" to me. 

There are rescue greyhounds on the other side of the pavilion we are in. Middle Cat again engages in conversation and discovers the man holding the leads of the two dozing greyhounds has parents who came from the same villages in Cyprus as her in-laws. We all agree that retired greyhounds are couch potatoes. How do they manage to stay so thin.

Middle Cat and I buy the obligatory ice-cream and eat it watching other people. The weather is perfect, sunny and  23'C at the time. We start to return slowly to the main pedestrian gate. There is time to visit the Country Women's Association display so I can tell the woman in charge about the winning tea pot cosy. "That's so good. Practically be blowed," she tells me, "It should be a bit of fun."

I am glad she feels that way because the CWA sponsors the prize. 

We look briefly at the schools' display of work on electric vehicles and Middle Cat meets someone she knows who races go-karts. I watch more tattooed people and then a smartly dressed group, obviously important visitors...yes, I recognise one of them. He recognises me too and breaks away from the group long enough to stop and shake hands and inquire after a mutual friend. 

This is a small city. It is a small state in population terms. Perhaps all this meeting and greeting is not so surprising.

We did not get as far wheat or sheep or wool classing or the area where cows were being milked. I saw children with the bright yellow bags they use to follow the "yellow brick road" to see all these things. If their parents guide them along that they will learn a great deal. They expressions on their faces suggested that many of them were having an experience to remember.